Salem Witchcraft, Volumes I and II eBook

In the midst of this general distress and local gloom
and depression, the great and awful tragedy, whose
incidents, scenes, and characters I am to present,
took place.

PART FIRST.

SALEM VILLAGE.

[Illustration]

PART FIRST.

SALEM VILLAGE.

It is necessary, before entering upon the subject
of the witchcraft delusion, to give a particular and
extended account of the immediate locality where it
occurred, and of the community occupying it. This
is demanded by justice to the parties concerned, and
indispensable to a correct understanding of the transaction.
No one, in truth, can rightly appreciate the character
of the rural population of the towns first settled
in Massachusetts, without tracing it to its origin,
and taking into view the policy that regulated the
colonization of the country at the start.

“The Governor and Company of the Massachusetts
Bay in New England” possessed, by its charter
from James the First, dated Nov. 3, 1620, and renewed
by Charles the First, March 4, 1629, the entire sovereignty
over all the territory assigned to it. Some few
conditions and exceptions were incorporated in the
grant, which, in the event, proved to be merely nominal.
The company, so far as the crown and sovereignty of
England were concerned, became absolute owner of the
whole territory within its limits, and exercised its
powers accordingly. It adopted wise and efficient
measures to promote the settlement of the country
by emigrants of the best description. It gave
to every man who transported himself at his own charge
fifty acres of land, and lots, in distinction from
farms, to those who should choose to settle and build
in towns. In 1628, Captain John Endicott, one
of the original patentees, was sent over to superintend
the management of affairs on the spot, and carry out
the views of the company. On the 30th of April,
1629, the company, by a full and free election, chose
said Endicott to be “Governor of the Plantation
in the Massachusetts Bay,” to hold office for
one year “from the time he shall take the oath,”
and gave him instructions for his government.
In reference to the disposal of lands, they provided
that persons “who were adventurers,” that
is, subscribers to the common stock, to the amount
of fifty pounds, should have two hundred acres of land,
and, at that rate, more or less, “to the intent
to build their houses, and to improve their labors
thereon.” Adventurers who carried families
with them were to have fifty acres for each member
of their respective families. Other provisions
were made, on the same principles, to meet the case
of servants taken over; for each of whom an additional
number of acres was to be allowed. If a person
should choose “to build on the plot of ground
where the town is intended to be built,” he was
to have half an acre for every fifty pounds subscribed